Thursday, August 30, 2007

Ace can now say alot of new words and is learning more new words everyday. Other than single syllabus, he has also started to say two or three syllabus words as well. Just the other day, he learnt the words "Superman" and "Abundance" from Daddy...

But I think this is because Ace is starting to parrot whatever we say. When you talk to Ace, very often he will parrot back the last two words that he hears.

My favourite game now is to ask him, "hao bu hao?" And hear him say "hao!"

Very shiok to hear him say tat. Suddenly you feel that Ace is sooooooooooo co-operative. I mean.. ace is good natured but not always co-operative.. especially now that his favourite phrase is "No no no no no..." so this is really a welcomed moment when he agrees..

Just to disturb him, I asked him the following...

So you see, no matter what you want him to choose, just give him two options and put it as the second option. Eg my mother in law likes to ask him, "Do you want didi or meimei?" and wait for him to say "Mei mei" and then after that, ask him again, "Do you want meimei or didi?" and wait for him to say "didi"...

Do not think that he does not understand what he is saying though.

Eg, if you are at a situation where you need him to co-operate, you just need to explain to him why he needs to co-operate with you and ask him, "hao bu hao?" and if he says, "Hao.." you shake hands with him to seal the agreement and he will follow whatever you agreed on.

However, if he does not like the idea, he will NEVER say "Hao" in the first place ;) clever or not??:P

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Ace has a new hobby... http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/elmosworld/

Hahaha.... everyday, he would watch Sesame Street at 9am but come afternoon, he will point to the computer room and say, "Street street..." try to open the door and run in.

That's because he has fallen in love with this game in Elmo's World called Peek-a-boo.

You are supposed to press any button on the keyboard and the character will jump out from somewhere and say, 'Peek-a-boo!"

It started once many moons ago, when I ran out of things to do with Ace, I put him on my lap and explored the sesame street website. We found the game and played it once but back then, Ace did not understand about pressing only ONE button but would haphazardly hit the keyboard.

That day, he came to me and pointed to the PC again so I asked him if he wanted to play with the computer. As usual, we surfed that website and came across this game again by chance. Right after I loaded the game, the phone rang so I asked Ace to stand beside the PC and wait for me.

But when I came back, this is what I saw...

Computer genius leh! Even knows to lift the curtain so that got light can see better...

Monday, August 27, 2007

We have so many misguided concepts about our parents and even though everyone knows that ALL PARENTS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN UNCONDITIONALLY, everyone thinks that their parents do not really love them or do not love them enough for one reason or another!

As we complain about how bad our parents are, many times we forget that we are responsible for our relationship with our parents as well.

We could choose a better relationship and take a step forward and we could give them our gifts to help them out of whatever situation they are in right now.

Many a times, if we think that our parents do not love us, it is usually because:- they are incapable of showing love because no one had taught them how to do it- they are unhappy and need our gifts to get out of the situation- they also felt that no one loved them, felt worthless and had no recognition from their parents or other halfs

It is one of the greatest misunderstandings that our parents do not love us.

At heartbreak stage, we always feel that, "If my parents love me, they will treat me the way I want them to treat me. If they do not treat me that way, it means that they do not love me."

But parents have their own plan to raise their children. Eg, we may want to eat Ice Cream before bedtime but our parents have plans for our good health and reject our request. We feel upset and think that they do not love us but they are doing it for the good of us.

Irregardless though whether our parents are thinking of us or not, we complain about our parents ANYWAY.

To many parents, eg the father, after they work hard, they usually go home and want to watch TV to relax after a long they work. We think they they do not love us but in working hard for a living to give us a good life, to them, that is their way of showing love.

If you think your parents do not love you, ask yourself why they behave in this way. What sort of gifts can you get them out of this situation.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Once... a very long time ago... while I was playing one of my silly games with Ace, I took the bolster and pretended to strum on it like a guitar or a zither and then I sang one of my silly songs.. and this would make Ace laugh uncontrollably...

The other day, we were sitting at home with nothing much to do and Ace suddenly ran into his bedroom, took out his bolster, laid it on his lap, sad down on a stool and started strumming and singing loudly by the door. (I hope my neighbours dun complain..)

He sat there and gave an impromptu bolster zither performance for a good 5 minutes and so I decided to take out my camera to film it down.

Once I took out the camera though, he started to become shy... Daddy returned home at around this time and once he saw his favourite daddy, he started singing with gusto again! muahaha...

The female lays a single egg, and the co-operation of the parents is needed if the chick is to survive. After the female lays the egg, she transfers it to the feet of the waiting male with a minimal exposure to the elements, as the intense cold will kill the developing embryo.

So if they not careful, the chick will die!

The male will ''babysit the egg' for about two months while the mther returns to sea to feed herself and to obtain extra food for feeding her chick when she returns. She has not eaten in two months and by the time she leaves the hatching area, she will have lost a third of her body weight. But the journey back and forth also takes about two mths!

If mother dun come back with food, the chick will die! But the journey to and fro is LONG and DANGEROUS!

For an additional two months, the males huddle together for warmth, and incubate their eggs. They endure temperatures approaching -62 °C (-80 °F), and their only source of water is snow that falls on the breeding ground. When the chicks hatch, the males have only a small meal to feed them, and if the female does not return, they must abandon their chick and return to the sea to feed themselves.

The chick will die!

By the time they return, they have lost half their weight and have not eaten for four months.

Then while growing up, the chicks may also fall prey to birds and the harsh winter cold. If eaten by predators, or the weather is too cold, the chick dies!

The mother penguins will then come back and feed their young, while the male penguins go all the way back to sea (70 miles) to feed themselves. This gives the mothers time to feed their young ones and sympathize with them.

Unfortunately, the fierce storm arrives where most of the chicks perish either by misplacement (the winds blow the chicks away) or they cannot stand the cold.

Many parents die on the trip, killed by exhaustion or by predators, dooming their chicks back at the breeding ground.

The parents must then tend to the chick for an additional four months, shuttling back and forth to the sea in order to provide food for their young. As spring progresses, the trip gets progressively easier, until finally the parents can leave the chicks to fend for themselves.

While the movie touched me with the penguin parent's strong and deep love (I dunno whether I can do that for Ace or not even..), I feel so sorry for the penguins as well..

But I also felt kind of upset for them as well...

I asked my mum, "Why they so stupid ah.. just live near the ocean lah. Then dun have to make such long trips and wouldn't have to bear such long wintery cold... Can increase their chance of survival mah..."

What is the point of living if it is just to cheat death and sit there and wait so tat you can give birth to another person that just does exactly the same thing that you do?

They sacrifice so much and the male go hungry for 4 months just so that their chick can survive but yet the odds are so against them.

Thank god I am human. Thank god I can find more meaningful ways to live life...

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The other day, i was happily sitting in Ah Yee's room and then suddenly, Ace ran into the room, grabbed hold of the window grills, lifted his legs and then turned and gave me a big smile and told me, "Monkeyyyyy..."

And then a few days later, when I was bringing him home after his Shichida, he climbed onto the railings of the stairs and told me, "Monkeyyy...."Seems like that is his code word for climbing all over the place.

I wonder if it is because all the monkeys he has seen on TV likes to climb around or did anyone tell him he is a monkey when he was climbing up and down... hahaha...

Monday, August 20, 2007

If you tell Ace, "Boin..." and then you pause, Ace will tell you, "救命啊！救命啊！"That is because Daddy brought Ace to some cafe once and while waiting for me, they saw this bungee jumping machine and Daddy kept telling Ace, "Boin, boin..." and when the machine is high in the air, Daddy will say, 救命啊！救命啊！(which means help)

Well, this is how the bungee thing looks like...

Anyway, if you see Ace saying any strange things.. it's DADDY who taught him those.. muahahahah ;)

Friday, August 17, 2007

I think Ace knows mummy's birthday is coming soon and has invented a new way of celebrating for mummy.

He took out all the colour pencils from the box and put them into the holes on Waigong's Stool. And when i wiped out the camera, he started singing the Happy Birthday song to the camera and clapping his hands..

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

When Daddy was away, poor me had to struggle with Ace as it happened so that in the week that Daddy was away, both Waigong and Waipo had no time to take care of Ace at night.

As a results, I was forced to bring Ace along for my meetings and parties this week.

The first day, we were due to go Growth Vision for a grouping by Yanni Jie. As Ace was very excited about going "gaigai", by 6pm, he was all dressed and ready to go. If I did not leave the house I knew he would surely go into a tantrum and since I had time to spare, I decided to travel there by public transport.

The way there was not easy indeed. When we reached the void deck, I asked Ace to walk on his own and walked towards the bus stop but Ace kept running in the opposite direction. I thought it was because he was throwing a tantrum.. and then he pointed at the car park direction and told me, "Daddy, Car!"

As per his usual habit, going out meant going to Daddy's car and he did not want to move because he thought I was going in the wrong direction! What a clever boy!

So I explained to him that Daddy was away and there was no car today. "Today, we are going to take the MRT and the bus.

We waited for a bus, then I carried Ace up the bus, carried him down and then carried him again to take the MRT. When we reached City Hall, it was raining and so I had no choice but to take a bus over to Growth Vision.

We alighted the bus and it was still drizzling lightly but I had no umbrella and at last resort, I put my shawl over Ace's head and made a dash towards the building.

Once inside the meeting, I managed to entertain Ace for about 45 min with a piece of paper, a pen for him to draw and his set of building blocks for him to build. And then he started to make noise and so I brought him outside and requested that Huijuan, Livee and Shermaine help me take care of Ace as they prepare for the Bedazzled party.

Ace was all over the place and we could still hear him while inside the grouping. He was singing, banging on the cupboards, running around and playing with Huijuan's computer. At last the grouping ended and thankfully this time round, Yanni sent me home.

By the time I reached home, my arm was so sore from carrying him so much that night.

But that soreness did not end there. The next night, we held a Bedazzled Party and last minute, I was informed that I had to bring Ace there on my own AGAIN...This time round, it was terrible because all of a sudden, Ace decided to become a really sticky koala baby. During the party, he just refused to leave me. Like a koala, he put his legs firmly around me and insisted that I had to carry him throughout the WHOLE PARTY from 6pm till 10.30pm. Even when I went on stage to give out prizes, he did not want to leave me.

By the time I reached home, I think my arm almost dropped off.. sigh...

But I guess it was a blessing in disguise also.. I initially thought he would run around the whole place and create havoc but he ended up being very subdued and during Eddie's talk, he just kept holding on to the fork with a springroll on it.

I think he missed his Daddy.. maybe he was saving the springroll for Daddy.

Friday, August 10, 2007

I dunno if I mentioned this... I had a flashback and went back to my past life.... (btw, I believe in past lives as I am buddhist..) and in one of my past lives, I was a buddhist monk... and so was Max and he was my good buddy who promised to come back with me to this world again to help me eradicate my karma.. i was so touched...

Anyway, after that flashback, I told Max that maybe Ace is our master.. hahaha ;)

A true blue high priest or high monk of sort...

Anyway, Ace gamely took on that role the other day when Net Net visited us. Ah Yee was lying down on Net Net's lap and ace took the bottle of toothpicks and started shaking it all over Ah Yee's body.. as if giving Ah Yee a blessing of sorts...

After two rounds, he got tired and sat down on Net Net's leg to rest.. I think he like Ah Net's leg... this is not the first time he tries to lie down there... I should ask him why he likes to lie on Net Net's leg.. hahaha..

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Maybe because Ace was starting to miss the fatherly figure in his life.. or maybe Ace thought that since Ah Yee is getting married, he should let them rehearse family life for a while...

Ace was walking around them and then he went to lie down on Net Net's leg and looking comfortable there.

When I came out with the camera, I managed to take a picture but he was not looking into the camera and so I told him to look at me.

Alas, he wanted to see the picture I took and so he walked towards me and so I showed him the picture and told him that he is not smiling. "So the picture is not so nice. Can you go back and pose again?"I asked him.

And so he did this:

And then I told him that I wanted and needed to see his face. And so he stood up, readjusted himself and did this:We had a good laugh ;) "Gosh, you want to see his face, he show you his face lor! Hahaha..." laughed Ah Yee.

But finally, he GOT IT RIGHT BUT he was still not smiling into the camera. HahahaPrevious Post: Ace Chua

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Angel, who won the "Most Beautiful Mum-to-Be" contest held at Plaza Singapura in May, is now a mommy. She gave birth to her son on the 25th of June 2005 at Gleneagles Hospital.

Little Ace Chua weighed in at a healthy 3.36kg and is a darling to all the nurses who has tended to him in the nursery. Instead of crying, he opens his eyes and looks around when it is time for milk.

The nurses were very impressed with Ace's good manners. "This is because we have been training him since he was in mommy's tummy," Mr Chua explained with a smile.

Angel when she was crowned "Most Beautiful Mum-to-Be"

Mr and Mrs Chua won a maternity package at Gleneagles Hospital as the top prize in the contest. Upon their arrival, Gleneagles pleasantly surprised them by upgrading their package to include accommodation in the VIP suite. In fact, many of their friends who came to visit commented it was like they were coming to a hotel.

Angel says she is happy with the service of the staff and nurses. The most memorable part of her stay was when the nurses handed little Ace to her for the very first time. To see her little one after carrying him for nine months was simply a moment to be cherished forever.

Dr Timothy Low came personally to present gifts to the happy parents. Our heartiest congratulations to Mr and Mrs Chua. Little Ace Chua is truly a testament to the most beautiful mom-to-be!

Monday, August 06, 2007

The other day, I just attended a lesson by a world class speaker (actually, it's my mentor, Yanni) about how to do public speaking ;)

During the lesson, one of the things she taught us was to have the mindset that everyone should concentrate and focus on what you are saying. If someone were to lose focus, then you should try to get their focus back.

One of the things you can do is to look at them and smile at them till they turn their attention back to you :)

I think hor, Ace is a NATURAL for public speaking though.

Even though I have been trained with stage and drama since young, this is something new to me. But before I could 'teach' this to Ace, he already knew how to use it!

The other day, he took a piece of paper, crunched his right hand into a fist with the thumb sticking out, put the fist near his mouth and started speaking as if he were holding on to a microphone ;)

And then he started talking and talking while pointing to the piece of paper and I had absolutely no idea what he was saying. After a while, he started to say, "YEEEEAAHHHH!!!" and clapped vigorously and so me and lao ma (his only audiences) clapped along with him to entertain him.

And then he started speaking again.. as if going on to the next topic. After a while, he started to say, "YEEEEAAHHHH!!!" and clapped vigoriously again.

This time round, just to make fun of him, only Laoma clapped but I remained immobile and just stared at him blankly.

He never stopped clapping.... and then he looked into my eyes, locked our eyes contact, walked so near me that there is only a 10cm distance and never once broke the stare OR stopped clapping.

Finally, I gave in and clapped. And then he stopped and proceeded on to the 'next topic'.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

You know when we draw cute 'shit', we always draw it round with this little curl at the top.. the type that looks like a mac donalds sundae....

I have always thought it a little stupid to draw shit like that since shit never looks like that anyway!

But the other day, for the first time in my life, I get to see round, cute shit! Exactly like those that we draw in the cartoons!

As we were at home and since it was a warm day, I decided to let Ace cool his bum by letting him go diaper free.

So Ace put on his loose pair of white shorts and tee shirt and jumped about the house happily.

I locked my bedroom door as I was getting ready to go out and was thinking to myself that I should dress Ace in his diapers since I will be going out soon.At this moment, Ace started coming to the door to knock on my door.

"Ma ma! Ma ma!" He kept calling me.

Suddenly, this whiff of strange smell travelled up through my nostrils.

"Ah Joo ah! Pang Sai ah!" Laoma said to me..

Suddenly, I realized that Ace was diaperless.

I quickly unlocked the door and opened the door and there it was.. a yellowish brown piece of sundae-like shit sitting at my doorstep.

Ace was just standing there with his hands up in the air.. as if frozen in motion because he shitted.

And then I started to laugh heartily... until I realized that I had to clear the shit. Sigh, wat to do.. just go to use tissue to contain it the best I could and flush it down the toilet lor.

Didn't help that Ace just came back from Yeye's house the day before and had a durian treat there.. phew... the smell of it....

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Ace has always liked Stanley and because we called him Ah Net, he always called Stanley Net Net.

I guess it is because Stanley likes children. He likes to play with Ace as is always very patient with Ace. PLUS, he always shares his food with Ace and therefore Ace loves him even more for that! ;)The other day we were at the food court and since me and Daddy were juicing, we were just sitting there and drinking our juices. Ah Yee and Stanley were eating... Ace saw their food, stared at Ah Yee's plain-looking white mee sua and Stanley's brown sang meen. Of course the brown one looked more appetizing!

So, he climbed over Ah Yee so that he could sit in between the both of them to stare at the food somemore.

He then decided that the noodles is nicer. He pointed to it and told Stanley, "mian!"

And so stanley fed him a little bit of it.

Ace crawled to the other side and started playing with himself. After a short while, he went to hug Ah Yee around her shoulders, put his head behind her so tat he could see Stanley, gave Stanely a BRIGHT SMILE and said, "Net Net..."

And so Stanley gave him another mouthful of noodles.

Then he tried to smile to Ah Yee and called her, "Ah yeeeee..." very sweetly, got to taste the mee sua and decided that the noodles were nicer.

SO he repeated his stunt of calling Net Net and in the end, Stanley shared half his plate of noodles with Ace.. who ALREADY had his dinner! Poor Stanley...

But I think Stanley's lavish love is not wasted on Ace.

I was looking through the SNC Photos the other day and I pointed out the people inside the photos and asked Ace to name them. He could recognize Stanley and called out for his favourite Net Net even though the picture was quite small.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

The other day, Daddy managed to knock off early and as we have been rather busy these few weekends, we decided to bring Ace out.

Initially we had wanted to go to East Coast Park because we could not bring him to any restaurant since the both of us were juicing. In the end, because it rained, we decided to bring him to Changi Airport to visit Nai Nai at the canteen.

When we reached the airport, Ace was really happy and ran about.. that was, until he saw the escalator. For some unknown reason, he would always demand that we carried him when he sees and escalator and if you asked him why he wanted you to carry him, he would say, "Pa pa.." while patting his chest area.. which means he is frightened.

And once he saw the fountains and the trolleys, he would get all excited again.

But it was tough for me and Daddy because it seemed so strange to buy something and watch Ace eat and all we had was juice. The ever hungry juicer, Daddy would buy so many cups of juice we looked as if we were having a juicing feast ;)

Anyway, after a meal, Ace started to look tired and we decided to go home. True enough, he fell asleep on the way home... but nevertheless, I think it was a short but fun outing ;)